Libya to try Khadafy’s son next month

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TRIPOLI, Libya — The son of the late Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafy and his spy chief were charged Tuesday with murder in relation to the country’s 2011 civil war and are set to stand trial, said Libya’s general prosecutor.

Abdel-Qader Radwan told reporters that the trial will start Sept. 19 on alleged crimes committed during Khadafy’s 42-year rule and during the eight-month-long civil war that deposed him.

The defendants are former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi and Seif al-Islam Khadafy, the heir apparent and only son of the former dictator. A total of 28 former regime members will face trial on various charges ranging from murder, forming armed groups in violation of the law, inciting rape, and kidnappings.

Radwan said authorities have issued more than 280 arrest warrants for those wanted on similar charges.

Radwan’s aide, al-Seddik al-Sur, said spy chief Senoussi has confessed to collaborating on producing car bombs in the city of Benghazi, the birthplace of the 2011 uprising. He added that the ‘‘defendants were not subject to any form of pressure to extract confessions.’’

The International Criminal Court charged Seif al-Islam Khadafy with murder and persecution of civilians during the early days of the uprising. If convicted in that court, he would have faced a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, because it does not have the death penalty. This summer, the international court judges had ruled that Libya cannot give Seif al-Islam a fair trial and asked authorities to hand him over to The Hague.